Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Jul 2022)
The Validity of Virtual Courage for Trainees in High-Risk Occupations
Abstract
Jia Wang,1 Huizhong Wang,2 Juan Jiang,2 Xiaotong Cheng,3 Ke Xu,4 Fan Xia,2 Le Chang,2 Yede Ji,5 Zhengzhi Feng1 1Department of Developmental Psychology of Armyman, School of Psychology, Army Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Psychology, Army Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 3Unit 32298 of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Weifang, People’s Republic of China; 4Shigatse Branch, Xinqiao Hospital, Army 953 Hospital, Army Medical University, Shigatse, People’s Republic of China; 5Army Engineering University, Xuzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zhengzhi Feng, Developmental Psychology for Armyman, Department of Medical Psychology, Army Medical University, No. 30, Gaotanyan Street, Shapingba District, Chongqing, 400038, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Employees in high-risk occupations are exposed to tremendous work stress that hinders organizational effectiveness and personal mental health. Based on positive psychology, courage can be considered a protective factor that buffers the adverse effect of high-risk surroundings on employees. However, little is known about the way courage is simulated or evaluated in response to safety concerns. Virtual reality (VR) is an accessible tool for courage simulation due to its immersive qualities, presence and interactive features and may provide a promising pathway to achieve a scientific, accurate and ecologically valid evaluation of high-risk employees.Methods: The sample consisted of 51 high-risk employees who were recruited voluntarily. Before and after experiencing the VR courage scenarios, the participants completed the VR features questionnaire, the Physical Courage at Work Scale (PCWS), the Courage Measure (CM), and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). During the process of watching the VR courage scenarios, the participants’ heart rate and skin conductance at resting-state baseline and during virtual courage scenarios were recorded through HTC VIVE Pro Eye and BioGraph Infiniti 8.Results: The results support the hypothesis and reveal that the interaction, immersion and presence scores of the scenarios were all significantly higher than the median 4 points. The score for the CM in the posttest was significantly higher than that in the pretest. The scared and afraid scores for the posttest were significantly higher than those for the pretest. The heart rate and skin conductance of each scenario showed an increase compared with the baseline. The Pearson’s correlation between physiological indicators and the score of the PCWS was 0.28∼ 0.54.Conclusion: This study developed virtual courage for high-risk occupations based on well-established theory and VR technology. Experimental data revealed that the paradigm conformed to the requirements of VR features and was able to activate fear and evoke the quality of courage. Thus, the virtual courage paradigms have good validity in simulating scenarios for high-risk employees, which might accelerate organizational effectiveness while buffering working stress.Keywords: high-risk occupations, employees, courage, virtual reality
